Importance of Teacher Qualifications?

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Unqualified
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2016 7:00 am

Importance of Teacher Qualifications?

Post by Unqualified »

Hi all,

I would like to seek your advice on the following. I have been teaching secondary mathematics in an international school (Northern Europe) for the last couple of years. I started as a substitute teacher, was asked to take over permanently and have even been promoted to a leadership role since last year (it's a small school, so not too difficult).

I've never trained as a teacher, however. I have completed a masters degree in an environmental sciences related subject from a good university in the UK, and I have read up a lot on teaching in the meanwhile, and have worked hard to be really good at my job (my superior, students and parents are very happy). I have been innovative and managed to incorporate quite a bit of digital skills and programming in my teaching and have been helping colleagues with implementing digital tools and learning digital skills themselves.

If I would ever want to move abroad, what would be my chances to land a job at a good school, without having teaching qualifications? A good school doesn't have to be top tier (whichever schools these may be), just any school with professional colleagues and leadership and an ambition to keep improving quality.

I've read forum posts on Teach Now and applying for QTS, but am unsure whether this would be considered very worthwhile by schools I would be applying to, considering how easy it would be to obtain it.

I'm not too keen to go back to university for a PGCE year which to me feels like an iteration of what I have learned myself in the last couple of years, and the only difference would be a piece of paper to be more easily recognised as someone having the quality to teach (it frustrates me that there aren't many options available to be assessed and qualified based on my current work). I'm open to learn more and surely there would be worthwhile things in that PGCE year for me, however having to move and being without a job and earnings for a year makes it far less appealing.

Main question is, how important would teaching qualifications be for me, and which ones? PGCE, Teach Now > QTS? I can imagine that eventually what matters is experience and expertise, is there any number of years of teaching experience after which I would no longer be disadvantaged by a lack of teaching qualifications - 5 years, 10 years, 20 years?

Apologies for the long post. I appreciate any thoughts you're willing to share on this.
wrldtrvlr123
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Location: Japan

Re: Importance of Teacher Qualifications?

Post by wrldtrvlr123 »

Hi. Unfortunately, for the vast majority of decent to excellent schools the bare minimum they will accept is two years teaching experience AND some type of teacher certification from your home country (or some other western country/state). There will always be exceptions in terms of schools and in terms of teachers that teach a high needs subject, know someone or are just in the right place at the right time, but I certainly wouldn't count on it.

The other thing to consider is that many countries now require experience, teacher certification and/or a degree in the subject taught in order to qualify for a visa. Again, not all countries and there are exceptions but without a recognized certification of some type you are going to be severely limiting your future opportunities.

There are many threads about Teach Now, Teach Ready etc. If you think you can get certified through one easily, or even with moderate difficulty, then it certainly would be worth the time and investment if you plan to continue teaching internationally. In my experience/knowledge, schools seem more than happy to accept almost any legitimate certification, especially if the candidate also has experience and can demonstrate content knowledge.

My limited knowledge of QTS is that it is fairly easy to obtain if you are qualified/certified teacher from another country but that doesn't seem to apply to you right now.

Someone with more expertise can probably chime in about the particulars but I would definitely say that finding a path to certification in some country or state is definitely in your best interest.
global_nomad
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Joined: Thu Jan 07, 2016 12:12 pm

Re: Importance of Teacher Qualifications?

Post by global_nomad »

A teaching credential is very important if you hope to move to a top international school. You might be an excellent teacher without, however, you won't get an interview with the vast majority of quality schools without a teaching credential. No way around this- just do it and get it done.
PsyGuy
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Location: Northern Europe

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Post by PsyGuy »

I concur with @WT123, while no amount of training equals any amount of experience, you are always going to find yourself struggling more than you should and having greater difficulties and frustrations without a professional educator credential.

QTS is the professional credential for educators in England/UK, its a simple process to obtain if you are already a credentialed DT/IT, but its not easy to pursue ITT, and in a number of ways a PGCE is as difficult if not more so than a Post-Bach program in the states or an ACP, the only region thats decidedly more difficult is Canada, which doesnt have non-traditional pathways to educator training and credentialing.
There are other avenues to QTS in the UK other than a PGCE (though that is the most common) you could explore the school direct pathway or the Assessment Only pathway to QTS.

You could look into Connecticut which has an experience only route to an initial teacher certification that can be renewed for a total of 18 years. Of course Teach Now and Teach Ready would also provide you a US pathway to certification.

Is there a certain point where credentials/license are no longer a disadvantage, no not really. More and more regions are requiring credentials for issuance of a visa, and you simply wont qualify. At 10 years recruiters are going to value performance and experience more so than a credential, but if you are up against other ITs with similar experience and performance and they have a professional credential you are very likely going to be continually disappointed, and this is true of the majority of competitive appointments that would describe upper tier ISs.
Unqualified
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Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2016 7:00 am

Re: Importance of Teacher Qualifications?

Post by Unqualified »

Many thanks for your elaborate and helpful replies. They're confirming what I feared already, needing qualificatations.

If you would be in my position would you go for the Teach Now > QTS route, and would that be sufficient? I just have a hard time believing that a school would suddenly become more interested when I've obtained QTS through this, in my opinion, fairly obscure route. Wouldn't a top tier school be underwhelmed by such teaching qualifications?
I would also prefer that if I were to invest in obtaining qualifications I would want it to be of such quality that there are no more future limitations to finding new jobs. A PGCE will most probably give me this, will Teach Now or Teach Ready?

I've looked into the assessment only option, though unfortunately it requires me to have taught in at least two different schools, which means I have to apply elsewhere anyway. The salaried school direct pathway is an option, as it would ensure an income, though it would involve a move.

How useful are B.Ed and particularly M.ed courses, in terms of being recognised as a qualified teacher? I know some of them are geared towards QTS, I particularly mean the ones that aren't. Any helpful? I guess they might give you (even more) expertise, though no QTS and therefore not very useful?
PsyGuy
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Post by PsyGuy »

@Unqualified

It would really depend what you felt "sufficient" means to you. A US credential and QTS is going to meet the requirements of the vast number of ISs. There are some limitations:

1) While those credentials are effectively licenses, its not going to fool anyone into figuring out very quickly what you know about those curriculum and what you dont. Having QTS and never having taught or being taught or trained in a BS means you have at most an academic understanding how to function effectively in that environments. The same is true for ASs.

2) Its not exhaustive, IB is perhaps the best math to the expression "no amount of training equals any amount of experience". You cant train someone for the differences in PYP meds/peds, not the way the IB does it. Jurisdictions like CAN and AUS, generally do not accept non-traditional training routes in education. They want academics reflected in a transcript and/or degree. Teach Now (or Teach Ready, etc.) will not give you that. School Direct will not give you that.

3) What else would their be? You look at IE curriculum/programs and its ASs (American) BSs (British) and IB. That describes the vast majority of ISs. Then you have FSs (French/Lycee), Euro (usually German/Swiss ISs) and a handful of CAN (mostly lower tier host national independent DSs that are buying a diploma), and a few AUS ISs (that are AUS ISs because those ISs market themselves as such, sometimes in partnership with an AUS DS/Uni). With a US credential and QTS you will find reciprocity simplified in a number of regional jurisdictions that will issue you a credential for their region.

The program you choose (Teach now, Teach Ready or PGCEi) greatly depends on the access you have for your field work. You have a full appointment so its not an issue but you arent a US citizen so Teach Ready isnt going to give you much. I generally prefer Teach Now over Teach Ready but for an experience IT/DT Teach Ready is easier in terms of field experience requirements. The advantage of Teach Now is that you will use the PRAXIS as your testing authority and those exams are available globally at many testing centers, meaning you dont have to travel to take your tests.
Regardless QTS is a 15 minute online application, and you will want to move your D.C. (Teach Now) credential to CA (California) very quickly. You already have the Masters degree and experience so all that is left is to take the extra ESOL PRAXIS and have that endorsement added to your D.C. credential before applying for the CA CLEAR credential. CA is the gold standard in American education and enjoys a high degree of recognition and status. There is also no PD requirement to renew the CA CLEAR credential.

I dont see how they would be underwhelmed, you studied professional education for a year either through a US ACP program or through an equivalent route in the UK (School Direct, etc). A PGCE is equivalent to a Post-Bach route in the States, thats the process most professional educators took to become teachers. Generally, only primary or SEN/SPED/LD educators get undergrad degrees solely in education.
There is still a preference (though a diminishing one) for ITs that were traditional/classically trained, meaning they got their credential and professional training in a Uni classroom, which is easy to identify from a transcript. There are also some regions that will not accept non-traditional or online ITT/EPP programs.

Elite tier ISs are underwhelmed by a lot of factors, being likable, timing, performance and luck are as much if not more important than how you obtained your credential.

There are some significant differences between a PGCE and Teach Now/Teach Ready. A PGCE is an academic qualification, it has real academic units/credits attached to it earned at a Uni. A PGCE is equivalent in the US to a Post-Bach EPP/ITT program. Teach Now and Teach Ready are neither of these things. They are companies/organizations that are approved by the respective authority to provide training as a professional educator that leads to a credential. There are no credits/units attached to it and their is no direct transcript (you get a small handful of credits/units of limited value). You will be able to take that credential however and receive the same full QTS as a UK DT would receive upon completing a PGCE and induction.
That s the limitation of a PGCE, you will be an NQT unless you complete induction (which you can do overseas in a BSO)

Academic qualifications are not professional credentials. There are lower tier ISs that will accept them, but in many of those cases they would likely appoint you if you had just a subject degree and classroom experience.
Many candidates at upper and elite tier ISs have an advance degree (masters) in which case a PGCE will provide you more credits towards a Masters degree than either Teach Now or Teach Ready.

Were it me I would look into the CT (Connecticut) initial teacher credential. It is renewable for a total of 18 years. You could then transfer that certificate to Hawaii for a standard certificate or apply for and be awarded QTS and allow the CT credential to expire (the NCTL may or may not accept the initial credential).

If your going to do a PGCE do it at OxBridge if you can, there is some prestige in a qualification from there, otherwise it doesnt matter where in the UK you go.
Unqualified
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Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2016 7:00 am

Re: Importance of Teacher Qualifications?

Post by Unqualified »

Thank you PsyGuy and others, you have been most helpful!

I understand the schools' perspectives in this, though it's a shame that professionalism and being qualified (as in being adequately equipped) is perceived in this rather narrow way.
PsyGuy
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Location: Northern Europe

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Post by PsyGuy »

@Unqualified

I realize its not what you want to hear but the credentialing of educators is not very restricted, there a number of pathways and routes to credentialing that address a diverse range of needs from young teachers who pursue traditional academic programs to second career experiential pathways. There is even an assessment only route that is little more than a portfolio of showing that you can do the job, and this would be available to you. What you wont find is regulatory authorities distributing credentials because DTs/ITs they they deserve one.
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